In debate, the Labour politician Ted Short – Lord Glenamara – who has died aged 99, could resemble the more serious sort of headteacher, a calling he had once followed. Though affable in private, in the Commons he was not given to levity. Rather, he was the sort of unsmart, regionally rooted, atypical politician, incapable of scheming or disloyalty, who held the Labour party together in its old incarnation.

Short first figured in news reports during the party's Scarborough conference of 1960, notable for Hugh Gaitskell's "fight, fight and fight again" speech. As soon as it had been delivered, Short was seen moving among MPs, gathering signatures for a motion supporting the leader. It was a congenial task. He was a whip, a loyalist, good at his job and against the upsetting of boats. Loyal to Gaitskell, then to Harold Wilson, who returned the compliment, he was never on good terms with James Callaghan, who in 1976 dropped him with a CH and a peer-age. The title he chose on entering the Lords the following year, Glenamara – valley of the lake – relates to Patterdale, on Ullswater in the Lake District, where he had a home at Glenridding. He was unequivocally a man of the north.

Short was born further to the east of Cumbria, in the village of Warcop, where his father ran a draper's shop. After studying at Bede College, Durham University, he became a teacher. In 1941 he married Jennie Sewell, and during the second world war served as a captain in the Durham Light Infantry, of which he wrote a history, published in 1944. Following his return to teaching, in 1947 he became head of the Princess Louise secondary modern school in Blyth, Northumberland.

He quickly became leader of the Labour group on Newcastle upon Tyne council, entering parliament in 1951 for the small constituency of Newcastle Central. In 1955 the rightwing Gaitskell became Labour leader, and Short was made a whip during the misery and ill-will of the revolt by the leftwing followers of Aneurin Bevan, a time marked by what Hugh Dalton called "hatred and love of hatred".

Short continued to give undeviating support when Wilson was elected leader after Gaitskell's death in 1963. When Labour won the 1964 election, the chief whip, Herbert Bowden, became leader of the house, and Short, his deputy since 1962, moved into 12 Downing Street as government chief whip.

With a majority of only four, he was kept busy as a sort of parliamentary timetabler and signalman, but a small majority is velvet to whips. They have to be efficient, and Short was, but they are not called upon to be tactful and conciliatory. Short, though not insensitive, had no special skills in these departments. The genial John Silkin handled the fractious with grace as pairing whip, and Wilson was openly appreciative of the work they and the deputy, Sydney Irving, did in keeping the government afloat.

Wilson took the opportunity to increase his majority with the general election of March 1966. Frank Cousins resigned as minister of technology the following July, Tony Benn succeeded him, and Short in turn became postmaster general.

Unlicensed radio ships broadcasting pop music, led by Radio Caroline, were an irresistible force at the time. Short became a figure of fun among pirate radio fans when the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, for which he was responsible, was passed in 1967. However, in a later interview he admitted that he actually liked pop music, which the BBC provided more of when it started Radio 1 in September that year.

In his approach to broadcasting, Short rejected the view that a local radio service should be provided by commercial companies. He stuck instead to the BBC and its licence fee. Although he reckoned that new sources of revenue were needed, he deferred to Wilson's distaste for commercialisation.

In the realm of postage, innovation was achieved more calmly. Short continued the policy of commissioning stamp designs from David Gentleman, and another commemorative set featured some handsome LS Lowry reproductions.

In 1968 Short was promoted to education secretary and devoted himself to the comprehensive programme. Though a rightwinger in Labour terms, he burst into uncharacteristic fury after the publication in 1969 by the Critical Quarterly Society of the first Black Paper, a highly critical assault on modern educational standards, referring to it as "the blackest day in the history of education".

In defence of his department from the first cuts imposed by Roy Jenkins as chancellor, he came close to resignation, but was persuaded against it. However, a year later he was obliged to accept a substantial round of reductions in building plans and the amount spent on meals and transport. His view of schools was that they should be community-based with some teaching of citizenship, rather than child-based. He also took charge of the final stages of creating the Open University, perhaps the best thing any Wilson government did.

Steady, competent and rather conservative in running departments, Short was one of the few ministers trusted by Wilson. By the end of his time as prime minister, Wilson was an unhappy figure struggling with a personal paradox. He had been elected by the left, but in reality was to the right of Gaitskell. There was a lot of Protestant nonconformity in Wilson and it fitted well with stiff, unfashionable men such as Short.

After Labour's return to opposition in 1970, Short continued to hold the education brief until in April 1972 he attained the ambiguous pinnacle of deputy leadership of the party, which he retained for the next four years. The Wilson cabinet contained a number of intellectuals given to superfluous wrangling when essentials were clear. For this, Short had limited patience. Once, Wilson fled to a Daily Mirror lunch, leaving his deputy in charge. Short gave the chatterers three minutes, looked at his watch, then said cheerfully: "I find we have agreed as follows," read out a form of words settled before the debate, closed his folder and made for the door.

In 1974, in the aftermath of the cases concerning the Newcastle council leader T Dan Smith and John Poulson, the architect who bribed him, reports appeared accusing Short of taking money from Smith to deposit in a secret Swiss bank account. Wilson's support was instant and absolute. Short could not have done such a thing. As for resignation: "First he has not offered me his resignation. I think it inconceivable that he should do so. If he had done so, I would not have accepted. The campaign against him will die because it lacks substance."

Short was immaculately honest, and evidence of the bank account proved to be a forgery. But Wilson's fierceness had other roots. Short was the cabinet minister who did not intrigue and did not murmur malice against the prime minister. He was the sort of minister who sustains cabinet government and upon whom a leader is grateful to fall back. The title of his memoirs, I Knew My Place (1983), may have been ironic, but then so many members of the Wilson government had not known theirs, and Short was not well known for irony. It was followed by Whip to Wilson: The Crucial Years of Labour Government (1989).

In his final cabinet post, as leader of the Commons (1974-76), Short achieved the immortality of having his name preserved in the phrase "Short money" – the statutory provision of funds for opposition parties. Until its introduction in 1975, MPs, unless privately wealthy or heavily sponsored, had received very little in the way of assistance for research.

On leaving frontline politics, he took up the chairmanship of Cable & Wireless (1976-60) and was chancellor of New-castle Polytechnic (1984-92) and its successor, the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (1992-2005).

Jennie died in 2008. Glenamara is survived by a son, Michael, and a daughter, Jane.